DJ Skee Is Disappointed In Drake

Guest bloggin’ for XXL, Sirius XM’s DJ Skee gave his opinion that Drake should have never signed with a major label. Guess you only get one chance to change the music industry. Whether you agree or not, it’s an interesting piece. Here’s a sample.

I don’t mean to give away the secrets on what I’m working on, but imagine going to company X, who cuts a check to have Drake be a spokesperson for the brand, then pays to create a music video that features and can also be cut into a commercial for company X that’s shown on TV to millions of people thousands of times. To top it off, the consumer has to go to Drake’s website to get the entire song (or mixtape/album) for free, where before they download they’re forced to watch that 30 second music video/advertisement about the product.

Makes too much sense, right?

Not only would Drake be getting the upfront check and huge promotions blowing him up even more, but also getting paid for advertising on his site each time someone downloads his music (which is free to consumers). In the event it went nowhere, company X isn’t committed to wasting a ton of money, and if successful, Drake is making more money than he could imagine. Immediately, if successful, this changes the entire model of the music business.

this of course is supposing that Drake actually achieved that measure of success independently and that HHS1978 (who got a 360 deal on him) didn’t already have the deal signed by the time the radio campaign for Best I Ever Had started… somebody had to put up that $ for a national campaign? Then again, I’m sure Skee knows that… good use of Drake’s name to generate traffic though…

Zach

^’cmon you do know how groundbreaking it would have been if Drake could achieve the same accolades and buzz being independent right? We wanted Drake to have a revolutionary debut but he wanted to follow the machine. Disappointing indeed.

Pyth

^^^^^^^ Couldn’t Have Said It Better Myself… Sidenote: Am I The Only One Thinks His Album Will Be One Of The Most Disappointing Freshmen Efforts Ever?

Theloneus

^

Theloneus

@Zach

Agreed. Drake brags that he had a worldwide tour, signed to a major label etc. because he released a mixtape. Well newsflash nigga you following what every other artist doin. Niggas not a revolutionary for the hip-hop game. I see nothing in him.

rocstar

who cares drakes a douchebag. he’s gona put out maybe 2 albums and nobodys gona fuck with him after that.

wow

@ Sniper co-sign! Let’s be real here people!

jumpman

this shit coulda been revolutionary and changed a lot. it woulda boosted the respect and business level of the hip hop industry. we coulda been on another level… drake coulda made big history i MEAN HUGE!

Eyerone

very interesting perspective. i never thought of things like that..it could have changed everything.

ya’ll are talking like experts on the subejct, completely neglecting the fact that if you were in his position you’d take the same route as he did. A 23 year old kid signing a 2 million dollar record deal, keeping the rights to all his masters, and forking over less residuals to the label (from his sales) than the next artist, plus the affiliation with Young Money and Lil Wayne, and having Universal records as his distributor??. Don’t front like ya’ll would do anything differently, I definitely wouldn’t. If ya’ll followed his career from its inception than you probably could’ve predicted this move. stop hating.

#FUCKOUTTAHERE

Oj Da Cornball

@ Sniper said “this of course is supposing that Drake actually achieved that measure of success independently ”

right on. Don’t knwo what the wriet acting like this guy’s original hustle, a la 50 with the mixtapes. got him where he at. SMH

All of this was handed to Drake on platinum plate. That also include his “mixtape grind.”

3Stacks

Soulja boy blew up to prominence on a similar marketing vehicle, sorta like

Crazy

Lets be real and stop calling him unsigned because its a TECHNICAL term. He aint sign to a label, but he had a deal with a powerful team, HHS1978.
—-
If he signed a 360 deal before that national push, and they put money behind it, is he really the unsigned phenomenon? He had BACKING! He didn’t do it alone. To suggest otherwise is just fudging the fact.
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He aint do it alone. We have yet to see someone do that, without being TRULY ATTACHED to anyone! Dude was SIGNED the entire time!
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Article is bullshit of that FACT alone!

Oj Da Cornball

Let’s not forget his mom his jew (jew machine/lawyers) pops is connect in industry since wayyy back. So that deal Drake sign was nothing more than his pops experience and his moms jew machine lawyers. I don’t give Drake for signing a ight deal.

Toya

You know… It really would have been impressive if Drake did become a big success without having to sign to a big record label. Basically controlling 100% of his career. Course that would make a lot of artists question themselves.

Crazy

I mean its cool if he was signed before that national push for Best I Ever Had, and that mini tour he was doing while the radio was spinning it.

The problem is acting like he did all that himself like some sort of Indie Phenom when he had the backing of a machine already.

Pretending hes indie is just false advertising. How the hell is he the one to bring change when he had the machine behind him since day one.

Unless the machine, is tricking folks into believing hes totally organic like that last terminator movie.

Johnny Ringo

somebody had to put up that $ for a national campaign? Yup prob some of that money he made off “Saved by the bell” or whatever it was called. Universal dropped the ball….Drake should of put his cd out in the summer……Forever had alot of money behind it because of J.I…..if he asks Em to be on something you know he’ll put alot of his energy & money into it!

majest

he have a point…but being an artist & creating new material

majest

…is a full time job..when millions of dollars are involved…money gets put in everybodys pockets to lead you in a certain direction.

BKLYN

What brands? (Do the Brands make sense for the product and the artist..that 50 deal at Pontiac may have been what helped the go out of business..and it didn’t work for either of them.

How is the website monetized? (R. Murdoch bought that money pit called YouTube.)

Will branding be exclusive? (If you do a deal with Pepsi what’s the length of non-compete claus?)

Just a few of my quick question….The internet is still the wild wild west and lawyers are trying to keep up with the innovations of the internet…The internet was the basis of the Screen writers strike last yr…
No disrespect to Skee but i don’t know if he’s got the business resume that Baby has in the business of music…..Trust a dude with a long shot dot com idea and I only get to be new once, or go with a dude with almost 15yrs of doing both indy and major label deals…Drake did the right thing for Drake….unfortunately it wasn’t the right thing for Skee

DRK TR

Drake is in control. I don’t know what everyone is talking about. HE SIGNED to young money. HE WANTED the check. HE GOT the check. You think this guy wants to rap for a company that doesn’t do music. And then he does a commercial for a product he doesn’t even like? He’s not a washed up actor looking for a quick check. He’s an artist looking to be the best in the game.

bullfrog24

LOL i could careless about the politics of the situation. here is the only question i have when listening to an artist

Is this music quality or bad? if its bad then its on to the next one and if its quality music i’m leaving it. Yall make music way more then it has to be.

Um YEah

@ Bullfrog 24.

too bad this isnt the 60’s dawg. the politics of the situation mean almost everything in todays music industry. todays music industry is all business.

LISTEN to the radio if you dont see that yet.

cuz after listening to the radio all day ull wake up the next morning feeling like P. Diddy too.

but also drake SOLO is quality music. drake on waynes shit or young money’s shit aint up to par.

plus drakes old shit is his best shit.

so, the real question is, whatCHU sayin nigg?

Um YEah

and @ DRK TR

Young Money signed HIM. aka his is property of young money, of wayne and of ever president every CEO, ever Major Label above wayne. Young Money is just a subsidiary of something bigger.
meaning drake is a person compared to the empire state building. and the dude wanted to rap somewhere comfortable. so signed with wayne. and isnt a washed up actor?? um. Degrassi. “ALL THE WAY FROM IT FLEX” i know u remember that.

Blackberry drake is dope no doubt, but u givin dude way to much credit. if it wasnt for wayne,and
his management company Hip Hop Since 1978 YOU wouldnt even the know the “yellow nigga who used to play up on degrassi.”

man I’m wit dj skee on this one.i followed drake since room for improvement b4 so far gone,and you look on youtube and see that early in the beginin he had nobody but 40,nick and Oliver,then he got the features from trey omarion bun b and wayne.every connection he got was based off of his talent,nothing else! we the people and bloggers made drake,no deal nobody else.and if you really followed drake you would know that they sold So Far Gone threw paypal and was mailing them physicaly! please do your research polititions…DRAKE deserved everything, his relationships grew from there….my opinion the bloggers should start creating online labels,look at Pill,Freddie Gibbs and Yelawolf.what about Eric Biddines?

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